Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1887-11-18
ORIGIN OF THE RIDDLEUERGER BILL
REPLY TO COL. wM. LAMB.

had seen II. Yesterday was the first OF
portunity had to read the letter. can
not understand why Col. Lamb should
have wandered so far from the purport
OF the inquiry he was cndeavoring to an
swcr as to intcrpoldte, as it were, the fol-
! lowing
"When the Riddlebergcr bill was pass
ed by the legislature Of Virginia II con-
tanned the first correct statement Of our
! liabilities. The bill, through parliament
tary courtesy was called the RIddleber-
ger bill, but it is well known that it was
principally the work OF General Malone.
who seems to be one Of the few public
men in Virginia who has had the indus
try and competency TO master the sub
jet Of the state debt"
Col. Lamb has either been imposed
upon by some one, or he puts himself in
a position by no means to be- envicd, for
II is well known that the bill referred to
followed General MahOnc's Mozart Hall
speech fixing the principal debt at s33.-
| 100000, il the rate OF interest should be
made , per cent. The figures were set
pay this amount.
did not agree with this view and sub
sequcntly prepared in my library room
the original Riddlebergcr bill. | then
prepared and published 1000 copies Of a
circular letter, setting forth my views OF
the debt question. | also prepared what
were known as the Shenandoah Rcso-
lutions" cmbodying the same views, which
| submitted to General Williams and
Judge ii. c. Allen for revision and Sug-
gcstiOns. Then | called a mass meeting
Of the people of this county for their APP
proval or rejection, and the resolutions
went forth and received wide circulation.
The circular letter met with approval to
such extent that Maj. X. +. Walker, then
manager Of the Wing, sent me a copy
containing on the margin: "rhs Is the
ten thousandth copy issued from here and
we are still receiving orders. This will
send you down to prostcrity." General
Malone, in writing Of the circular began
letter from which feel at liberty to
use the opening sentence
"Dear Riddle
You have struck the Key
note"
General Malone subsequently came 10
Woodstock, and remained with me near
", or quite, a week, dcvoting much Of
his time TO revising the figures in the
bill, and when this was done to his en-
tire satisfaction, we started out on can
vass, opening at Page court. driving di-
rectly from here to Luray. Here Genl.
Malone handled the figures mastery,
and satisfactorily explained his Mozart
Hall speech. had taken the precaution
to have the calculations made by the late
Prof. Salyards. who did so at the per-
sonal request OF Judge Calvert. But
Genl. Malone still found errors as he
! thought, and the estimates were all made
to conform to his calculations. The en-
tire canvass Of 1879, which resulted in
| RcadihstcT success. and made Genl. Ma
hone a L. s. Senator, was conducted on
| the bill a. il went from here 10 Luray,
the circular letter supplying the legal
and other authorities upon which the bill
was based.
When the General Assembly convened
assistance was sought toperfect the struc-
ture and yerbiagc Of the bill. Col. W.
W. Gordon and Capt. John ). Wise,
while assuring MS that they did not con-
| Cur I'm the object and purposes Of the
| bill, assisted i'm this work. There some
| alterations were made, and new sections
added. One was the certificate clause,
another, proposed by General Malone,
set aside all the surplus revenues for in
terest on the debt after providing for the
support of Government, the schools. asy-
lums, &c. Capt. Wise Il think it was hc)
/ improved upon the substituted Rene
dy'' clause by extracting from the Ten
nesscc vs.. Snccd case. The bill was
then approved by n large meeting OF Re
adjustcrs held in the Wing Office and by
me presented to the Senate. Ii at once
| brought on a hurricane OF condemnation
| from the sO-callcd debt payers. and ! was
! denounced as the head devil Of re-
/ pudiation. while General Malone was
/ bitterly assailed for Inconsistency in sup
porting this bill after his Mozart Hall
speech.
In the Senate. Hons. John Paul and
Abram Fulkerson opposed the section
put into the bill by General Malone ON
the ground that it was one general and
sweeping coupon as dangerous as the
many we then had. They did not pre-
vail, and the bill passed, only to perish
under the blow which Governor Holiday
gave it with the veto club, basing his
reasons mainly upon the certificate fea-
ture and the section which Paul and
/ Fulkcrson had opposed, Of course plant
ing himself and party firmly upon the
rock OF "the honor Of the state" ana
her contract obligation to pay the debt
as ''settlcd" by the McCulloch bill.
The election Of 1881 resulted i'm u
sweeping victory for the Readjusters, all
the Republicans elected, but one, agree
ing with them on the debt question.
The debt bill was the subject OF first
consideration. In the meantime Col. W.
G. Elan, then editor OF the wing, had
given the mathematics Of the bill an en-
tire overhauling. and, from another
starting point, had asccrtained basis Of
settlement varying (this from memory
about $500, 900 from that Of the original
bill. His table was published in the
Wing and supported in such convincing
editorials as that his estimates were ac-
ccpted rs the basis OF the second bill. The
certificate clause, (which never ought to
have been in), and the section put in by
General Malone, were stricken out. This
left us the original draft OF the bill, with
Wise's amendment and Elam's figures.
In this form, Genl. Malone and myself
carried the bill TO Judge w. W. Crump
at his home. He assured MS he had nc
sympathy with the plan OF settlement OF
with readiEtment, but, as alawycr, h Q
would give us his opinion on the struc-
/ turc OF the bill. II my memory serve
me correctly, it was he who suggested
that the parts Of the bill which were In
! tended to destroy the tax receivable cOu-
pom had better be formulated into sep
arate bills, to follow the general one
providing for an ascertainmcnt Of Nir-
gina's Just share of the debt. This sug-
gestiOn was acted upon. and hence the
! three bills-thc debt bill proper, and
Coupon Killers, zone" and 1.-TWO. -
These bills were all passed, and became
laws with the approval Ex-Governor Cam
eron.
put this statement before the public
as embodying all the material facts in ro-
| lation to the origin. changes i'm, and final
passage OF the "Riddlcbergcr bill. 80
| That General Malone worked industris-
Ously to perfect and pass both bills is not
to be controverted. That Col. Lambs
sweeping statement is true, most enl-
phatically deny. lie was not at any time
in place or position to gain that personal
knowledge which would justify him in
making any statement concerning the
matter Of which he 50 unqualiiicdly
writes.
For Col. Lambs eXplanatlan OF his
own position on the debt question, |
have no care, but may say that it APP
pears to me somewhat incongruous. and
altogether inconsistent with that which he
occupied when made temporary chair
man of the convention of 1877, when he
was so violently against Malone (after